The coin is like new, I hope you can tell from the pictures. I hope the pictures do it justice, the reverse is offset. Is this a common thing?
Thank you, that is what I am seeing and did not know the terminology for it. Is this rare or does it happen often? If so do I have a good find?
The edge you show, with more of the copper-nickel showing on one side than the other, is quite normal. It is caused by the cutting process. However, if the coin had been worth a premium, you would have possibly damaged it by holding it with your fingers against each face of the coin. Even clean hands have enough oils to leave fingerprints which can affect the surface.
It's a die alignment error, as opposed to a die error, the latter being intrinsic in or on the die, itself. It's collectable because the error repeats on every coin struck in that orientation. Die errors have value. These have a little, but not that much. It's a good find, though.
It’s rotated about 5 degrees. Tolerance is much higher than that. According to NGC, it’s 15% to be recognized as an error.
I am still learning so please excuse my inexperience. Do you use gloves while handling all coins, ie going through rolls, looking though that old jar full of coins? If so which type of coins are best?
Thank you. That is what I do now. I try not to touch the face unless necessary and always wash my hands before and after handling coins. The coin in question went in a holder immediately after taking pics as I am putting together a state set as well as looking for errors.
There's no way to judge die rotation from those photos because we have no idea how accurately the coin was flipped. The slight misaligned die is cool. Don't be surprised when after a while your fingerprints appear on the coin.
As mentioned above, hold them by the edge carefully (don't drop!) with clean hands, even when going through rolls. You never know what you might find, and you wouldn't want to regret fingerprints on a nice roll find. For proof coins I try not to touch them at all, and if I must then with clean, soft cloth, still only by the edges, with no wiping or rubbing. Fortunately for the coin pictured, copper nickel is probably the least subject to such damage of all commonly collected coin metals. But that is not to say they are immune, and it is best to just get in the habit of edges only. This does have one downside. I have collected for so long that I find myself cringing when a cashier reaches into a change drawer and touches the face of the change.
